The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube brought to you by Contents

Introduction...... 3

YouTube: A Crash Course...... 4 Getting Started...... 4 Navigating the YouTube Dashboard...... 5

General Safety Tips...... 6

The Dangers of the Comments Section...... 7

Keeping an Eye on What Kids Post on YouTube...... 8

Setting Up YouTube for Kids Under 13...... 9 YouTube Kids...... 10 Setting Up Multiple Accounts...... 13

Teens & YouTube ...... 14 Using Restricted Mode...... 14

Monitoring YouTube with Bark...... 15 What Bark Does...... 15

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 2 Introduction

YouTube is the second-most popular website in the including TV, Netflix, and movies. It’s the go-to world, with over 400 hours of content uploaded place for videos for nearly everyone in the world every minute. On average, teens spend more time — and for this reason, there is the potential for watching YouTube than any other video platform, exposure to risky or inappropriate content for kids.

In this ebook, we’re going to walk you through the basics of getting YouTube up and running for your child. Keep in mind, YouTube’s Terms of Service explicitly state that regular YouTube service is not for kids under 13. At Bark, we recommend that On average, teens spend children under 13 only use the YouTube Kids app. more time watching But remember, there’s no fool-proof way to keep your kids from viewing potentially problematic YouTube than any other videos, even on YouTube Kids.

video platform — including You may also choose to restrict YouTube in TV, Netflix, and movies. its entirety, which may be the right option for your family. Even with restriction, however, it’s important to maintain clear, open, and honest communications with your child. They may run into situations with friends or at school where YouTube is not restricted or is being used openly.

General things to remember:

• If a user is signed out of their account, YouTube will automatically block all content that requires age verification.

• Kids can access YouTube in several different ways, including browsers, the app itself, smart TVs, Kindles, and iPads.

• Kids can also create a fake profile that states they’re older, allowing them to watch YouTube with no restrictions.

• A YouTube proxy is a tool that hides a user’s IP address, allowing them to bypass internet censorship and watch YouTube videos, including those that are blocked in their region. Kids may also use virtual private networks (VPNs) for the same reason.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 3 YouTube: A Crash Course

You’re probably familiar with the YouTube platform. It’s easy to search and find videos to share with friends and across social media. But it’s surprisingly dense and filled with an overwhelming amount of content. Getting to know the basics will help you as you learn how to protect your child while they use YouTube.

Keep in mind: YouTube is NOT just videos Getting Started — it’s social media, chat, music, and more. Here’s the complete list of YouTube products: Signing in How you use YouTube depends on whether you (or your child) are signed in. If you’re on a computer, look at the top right of your YouTube YouTube TV YouTube Gaming screen. You’ll see your name or username if you’re signed in, and if not, you’ll see the sign-in prompt.

If you’re new to YouTube or haven’t signed in, the homepage will display the most popular YouTube Music Creators Academy videos and highlights from general categories like music, sports, and gaming.

Once you’ve signed in, however, the navigation bar at the top of every YouTube page will be personalized and allow you to easily find the YouTube Kids YouTube Premium content you care about.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 4 Navigating the YouTube Dashboard

Guide The left-hand toolbar on the home screen is the Guide. Open the Guide to get quick access to Trending, Subscriptions, History, Videos you’ve saved to watch later, YouTube Premium, YouTube movies (if applicable), and account settings. Home

Home highlights videos recommended from your subscriptions and watch history. Trending

Trending lets you discover videos that are popular on YouTube right now. You can scroll through all of the videos or Subscriptions select a specific category (such as music, news, or gaming) to see videos exclusive to that subject.

Subscriptions allows you to view recent LIBRARY uploads from your subscriptions, which are the channels you can choose to follow, like “Katy Perry” or “NFL.” History History is where you can see everything that’s been watched in this account. Here, you’ll also be able to see search history, comments left, community activity, and Watch later live chats.

Purchases takes you to a page with your paid channel subscriptions, movie Liked videos purchases or rentals, and tickets.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 5 General Safety Tips

Inappropriate Privacy Harassment and Moderating content guidelines cyberbullying channel comments If you see a video that If you feel that your If your teen is being There are tools available you feel is inappropriate child’s privacy has harassed by someone on YouTube that allow or that may violate the been violated (such on YouTube, direct them your child to remove YouTube Community as unauthorized use to block the user. This comments posted Guidelines, flag the of images or personal will help prevent further on their channel or video. This is the information without communication. If it moderate them before fastest way to bring consent), please visit persists, please review they appear. potentially inappropriate YouTube’s Privacy the harassment article content to YouTube’s Guidelines, where you within the YouTube attention. YouTube can learn more about Safety Center for policy specialists review the privacy policy and harassment prevention flagged videos 24 hours how to file a privacy information. If you would a day, 7 days a week. complaint. like to report harassment in videos, channels/ profiles, or comments, you may do so via the reporting tool.

6 The Dangers of the Comments Section Abuse YouTube is notorious for its toxic comments, and it has recently Kids with their own channels established new guidelines to curb some of the problematic may become targets of abuse, issues that arise. Nevertheless, you’ll still find many abusive harassment, or cyberbullying. postings from those hiding under the anonymity of screen Abuse also includes doxxing, names. Here are three primary ways that the comments section which is revealing someone’s can be dangerous for your child. personal information, including personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers and addresses.

Comments as conversations Comments sections can become de facto chat rooms, creating potentially dangerous places for children to spend time. There have been documented cases of online predators grooming children through relationships sparked in the comments of videos.

Toxic content No matter what a video is about, comments can pop up featuring racist, sexist, homophobic, and other types of toxic content. It’s harmful when kids see these types of content on public videos, but it’s even more so when these types of comments are left on videos they created themselves.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 7 Keeping an Eye on What Kids Post on YouTube

You probably want to give your kids some creative freedom to post videos on YouTube. Additionally, letting them express themselves there can be a fun and positive way to nurture their imaginations or future career interests.

But it’s still important to learn what kind of videos they’re posting. Are they making videos with overly personal things you don’t want them saying or showing? Are they posting something with slightly mature content?

Take a look at what your teen is posting on their channel — regularly. Check out their favorites and YouTube channel subscriptions. Favorites and subscriptions can give you clues about what they are watching on the site.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 8 Setting Up YouTube for Kids Under 13

There’s no way to guarantee that inappropriate content will not pop up, so we recommend that parents always supervise their children on YouTube. The best way to do this is to set up a Google Account for your child.

Creating a Google Account for your child It takes about 15 minutes to create your child’s Google Account. For managing kids under 13, Google has an app called Family Link that helps parents to set it up on both Android and iOS.

1. Open the Family Link app . If you don’t have the Family Link app, visit the Family Link setup page to get started.

2. In the top right, click “Create + .”

3. Follow the instructions on screen to create the account.

4. When you’re done, a confirmation will show on the screen.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 9 YouTube Kids

Developed with younger children in mind, YouTube With YouTube Kids, parents decide: Kids is a separate app with limited functionality. • The content level setting (older or younger) It’s also able to be entirely controlled by parents. • Whether a child can use the search function in the app

YouTube Kids doesn’t grant unlimited access to the wider YouTube network. Instead, it uses a mix of filters, user feedback, and human reviewers to keep the app family friendly. There’s a Younger content setting and an Older content setting, each with age-appropriate content.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 10 Younger setting Older setting The Younger content setting was designed with The Older content setting was designed with kids kids 8 and under in mind, and it includes songs, ages 8 to 12 in mind and includes additional music cartoons, crafts, and other content that generally videos, gaming, science, and more. This setting is for appeals to kids in preschool and early elementary kids who can handle more grown-up content filtered school. from the broader universe of videos on YouTube.

YouTube tries to exclude content not suitable for For example, it will show music, gaming videos, young kids, but no automated system is perfect, and vlogs that may include more explicit language and it may fail to filter some videos. and imagery, some violence, or suggestive content.

This setting tries to exclude mature content, but again, YouTube isn’t perfect. There’s a chance that your child may run into more mature videos that could include nudity, offensive language, and violence.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 11 How to change your How to allow only approved YouTube Kids settings content on YouTube Kids You can adjust the YouTube Kids content With this setting, your child will only be able to settings as your kids mature. Here’s how: watch videos, channels, and collections that you’ve handpicked. Nothing is left to chance 1. On your device, open the Family Link app. by the algorithm. 2. Select your child. 3. On the “Settings” card, select 1. Tap the Lock icon in the bottom corner of any “Manage settings.” page within in the app.

4. Click “More,” then select “YouTube Kids.” 2. Complete the multiplication problem, or read and enter the numbers that appear. 5. Choose your child’s settings: You may also enter your custom passcode. • Content level: Choose the content 3. Click “Settings.” level that’s right for your child — whether older or younger. 4. Choose your child’s profile and enter your parent account password to modify settings. • Search: Turn Search on or off. 5. Select “Approved content only” to enable. You can also use the Family Link app to 6. Review the information in the “Getting Started” manage your child’s activity settings, including pop-up. their YouTube search and watch histories. 7. Click “Start.” 8. Tap the icon on any collection, channel, or video to approve content you’d like to make available to your child.

9. Click “Done” in the red box at the bottom of the screen to exit.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 12 Turning Search off You can restrict your child’s experience to a more limited set of videos by turning Search off. With Search off, your child can’t search for videos, and is instead limited to videos from a set of channels that have been verified by YouTube Kids.

With Search turned on, your child can search for new videos that interest them from the millions available in the YouTube Kids app.

• Note: Please keep in mind that there is always a chance your child may find something you don’t want them to watch.

To turn off Search, toggle Search to “off” in Settings. If you turn Search off, the watch and search histories in your app will be cleared. This will reset the Recommended videos and the Watch it again feature.

Setting Up Multiple Accounts

YouTube Kids allows signed-in parents to create a separate profile for each kid in their household — up to 8! • Each profile has a separate set of viewing preferences and recommendations, allowing multiple kids to get the most out of the YouTube Kids app. • These profiles are available on any device where the parent is signed in and the LS Pic 6 YouTube Kids app is installed.

•Note: You can also use YouTube Kids without signing in at all.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 13 Teens & YouTube Teens taking over When a teen manages their own account: Once your child turns 13, they will be presented with two options. They will be able to either: • Parent supervision features are turned manage their own Google account, or continue off, including allowing or blocking apps, to have a parent manage it. setting a bedtime, and more.

• Note: Teens can choose to stop this • Teens are still in the family group, supervision at any time. but they can choose to leave. • Location sharing will be off, and children Unfortunately, it gets harder to directly control can decide if they want to turn it on again. what teenagers do on YouTube because of the • Teens won’t be able to use YouTube Kids company’s Terms of Service. with their Google Account anymore, and videos and channels that were previously At this point, we recommend having open, honest, blocked might now be available to watch and frequent conversations regarding content in the app. and how to navigate the online world — as well as what the potential dangers are. • Teens will be given the option to enable personalized ads.

Using Restricted Mode

Restricted Mode works on the browser or device level, so you must turn it on for each browser you use. If your browser supports multiple profiles, you must enable it for each. Restricted mode will limit videos with drugs, alcohol, sexual situations, violence, and more.

Turning Restricted Mode on or off 1. Go to the Account icon. 2. Click “Restricted Mode.” 3. In the dialogue box that appears, toggle restricted mode to On or Off.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube 14 Monitoring YouTube with Bark

This ebook has shown parents how to use the safety precautions that YouTube has in place to protect kids. There are countless ways kids can get into trouble, and it’s hard to spot-check their devices every night.

Bark gives you peace of mind when it comes to keeping your child safer on YouTube. We recommend that all kids create and use their own accounts — that’s how we monitor what they’re getting into on YouTube.

How Bark Works

Protects child- Monitors Sends alerts for created content YouTube activity potential issues Bark monitors the videos Bark monitors YouTube views Bark sends alerts and comments related to and searches on connected when content may your child’s user and Android or Amazon devices indicate safety concerns. channel subscriptions. so you don’t have to review it all yourself.

15 Bark gives peace of mind across platforms

Bark’s award-winning service monitors Visit bark.us to learn more about texts, YouTube, emails, and 24 social how Bark keeps kids safer online. media platforms and sends alerts for You can also sign up for a free, one- issues like cyberbullying, depression, week trial to see how it can help your adult content, online predators, and family navigate the ever-changing suicidal ideation. technological world.

The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube